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Sunday, February 26, 2017

Trip Report: TAP Portugal, Newark to Lisbon (February 2017)

Trip Report: TAP Portugal, Newark to Lisbon

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I have a two-pronged goal: I want to see new places and also
try out new airlines. As part of this
goal, I decided to visit Lisbon, Portugal and decided to fly TAP Portugal. TAP is the national carrier of Portugal, and
they have been heavily advertising their low fares and free "Portugal
Stopovers". They even have a
"Portugal Stopover" app with free activities and other suggestions
for those with a day in Portugal.

I was connecting to TAP in Newark. As TAP is part of the Star Alliance network,
I had booked the ticket through United as my starting journey - from New
Orleans to Newark - was on United. Once
I had booked the ticked through United, I called TAP to obtain my TAP
reservation number. My ticket included
one free checked baggage (50lb, 23kg), a free carryon, a free meal onboard and
free seat selection. Even though I had
the reservation number, I was unable to manage my booking online - including
selecting seats or a special meal. This
meant I had to call TAP again - their hold times are minimal and the service is
really good. They also send email
confirmations of the reservation to ensure the information has been updated.

Because I had booked through a Star Alliance partner, I had
to check-in at the gate to

obtain my boarding pass. My flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30p
from Newark and arrive into Lisbon at 6:05am.
I had arrived to the gate area very early – around 4 hours prior to
departure – and the plane was already there (it arrives from Lisbon at 2:50pm). There was nobody at the gate so I returned
about an hour prior to departure to get my boarding pass – even though I had
confirmed my seat assignment and special meal a month before, and reconfirmed
the night before, it was not registered and the airline could not find any
record of it. I had to wait for a
manager to come and reassign me a seat close to the front of the plane. It was not a good way to start the journey.

TAP boards in group, so after business class and premium
class group A boards. I had

group A so I
went through and boarded the Airbus A330.
The plane was divided into three sections – one business class and two
economy sections. The economy seats were
laid out in a 2-4-2 layout and the interior of the plane looked nice – not brand
new but not too old. Originally I had
the aisle seat on the 2-person seater, but that got switched and now I was in
the aisle seat of the 4-person seater with no one next to me. The seat itself was comfortable, looked nice,
and felt like it had been updated recently.
The padding was decent and the legroom was also good, especially for the
6hr flight. The seat contained a
headrest which could be moved and contoured to your head, and a footrest was
provided which was a nice touch.

Each seat contained a PTV on top, the tray table, and then a
space for the airline magazine, duty free, safety card, and air sickness
bag. As you boarded the plane, each seat
also contained a pillow, a blanket, as well as headsets. The PTV was touchscreen and pretty responsive
– the selections of movies was pretty good but the selection of TV shows was
poor. There were enough movies to keep
you occupied for the 6 hour flight, but the TV selection was limited and
odd. Another negative was the lack of
USB ports.

The plane was generally full, with some empty seats here and
there. We boarded on time and the front
door was closed for an on-time pushback and departure. The safety video was shown in the monitors,
and the crew came around to check on the passengers. Generally the service onboard was average,
the attendants provided enough service to get the job done; they were generally
pleasant but the service was not extra ordinary.

Around 8p, about 1.5hr after departure, the inflight service
commenced. Drinks,

including free soft
drinks and certain alcohols, along with dinner were served. I had requested a special meal but that was
not honored, and I had eaten in the lounge, so I generally just picked at the
meal. After the meal, coffee, tea, and
additional drinks were served while the trays were being cleared. The cabin lights were then dimmed so people
could get some rest.

The scheduled flight time is 6h 35m but we had very good
tailwinds so the flight time was shorter and we were expecting to land early,
around 5:30a. About an hour prior to departure,
a snack box and drinks were served. The
snack box contained a granola bar, fruit, and yogurt. Overall, the food was fine for the short
flight time. We landed early, taxied to
the gate, deplaned, went through immigrations and then waited for our
luggage. I flew TAP twice and each time
it took almost 45mins for my luggage to come through – each time the wait was
ridiculous.

Overall, it was generally a pleasant flight with TAP. The seats were generally comfortable, the
legroom decent, and the availability of movies were also decent. The negatives included the lack of USB ports,
the ordinary service, and the lack of confirming requests for reservations. I had gone out of my way to book myself on TAP to try out their product and the question is, would I do it again? i would not go out of my way to book TAP, but I would also not avoid flying them; if the price and schedules were good then I would book TAP again.